Hubble was recently serviced in May of 2009 to install two new instruments and make a few repairs. Since the servicing, Hubble was undergoing testing and calibration. It stayed this way until July 23, 2009 when NASA engineers woke the telescope up to snap a few photos. Hubble captured images of a scar in Jupiter’s appearance. It seems that a small comet or asteroid disintegrated in Jupiter’s atmosphere leaving behind the fairly large black scar. Waking the Hubble Space Telescope up for the photo shoot will add delays to the calibrating and getting the telescope fully operating. NASA scientists find it worth it though as this is only the second time debris colliding with Jupiter has been recorded.

Interesting facts about the Hubble Space Telescope:

• Hubble was funded for in the 1970′s but did not launch until April 1990 due to technical delays and the Challenger Disaster.
• Hubble is the only satellite designed to be serviced in space by astronauts.
• The orbit height of Hubble is 347 miles.
• The orbit length of Hubble is 96 to 97 minutes long.
• The orbit velocity is 25,000 ft/s (or 7,500 m/s).
• Hubble Space Telescope is named after Edwin Hubble who help change understandings by demonstrating the existence of galaxies other than the Milky Way.
• Hubble originally cost $1.5 billion to build, but costs for maintenance and repairs have already added up to around $10 billion
• Hubble is so accurate that aiming it is like holding a laser on a dime that is 200 miles away.

What has the Hubble Space Telescope discovered?

• Hubble has discovered the rate of expansion of the universe to an accuracy of within 10%.
• Hubble has taken images of galaxies that are billions of light years away.
• Hubble discovered that dark energy is a constant presence in our universe.
• The telescope helped astronomers put an age on the universe of about 13 or 14 billion years old.
• Hubble has taken pictures of large gamma ray explosions.

According to the Associated Press, “NASA’s new boss says he will be “incredibly disappointed” if people aren’t on Mars — or even beyond it — in his lifetime.” Although if you’ve forgotten, we have not been back to the moon since 1972. To read more about the new NASA boss and his aspirations, here’s a link to New NASA boss: Astronauts on Mars in his lifetime.

Below, we have compiled a list of interesting facts about Mars for your enjoyment.

Interesting Facts about Mars

• Mars, named after the Roman god of war, is the fourth planet from the Sun.
• Mars is also called the “Red Planet” due its reddish appearance from its iron oxide surface concentration.
• Mars is home to the largest mountain in our Solar System. Called “Olympus Mons”, it rises 15.5 miles into the sky and is 372 miles across!
• A hundred pound man on Earth would only weigh 38 pounds on Mars.
• Scientists have determined that Mars used to have large amounts of surface water.
• The south and north polar caps of Mars are made largely of ice, similar to Earth
• Mars has two moons, Phobos and Demois.
• Due to the extreme closeness of Phobos to the planet, it is expected to either someday crash into Mars or, more likely, form into a ring system around Mars.
• Phobos actually makes an orbit around Mars quicker than Mars spins.
• It takes 687 Earth days for Mars to make one orbit around the Sun.
• A day on Mars last just longer than an Earth day at 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds.
• The surface temperature on Mars ranges from −140 °C (−220 °F) to 20 °C (68 °F).
• Mars has about half of the radius of Earth.

This image helps give a visual perspective on the size comparison.

To view NASA’s plan for future space missions to Mars, visit NASA’s website.